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Ian Bickford has been a student and a professor at Simon’s Rock. Now he’s back a third time – for the biggest adventure yet.

The office of Ian Bickford ‘95 is a work-in-progress. Located on the second floor of the Hall College Center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, it has bare walls and just a few books on the shelf. But its sparseness makes sense: Ian returned to his alma mater just four months ago, to launch a new initiative called Bard Academy at Simon’s Rock. And almost every moment since has been reserved for developing the curriculum – a 9th and 10th grade program designed and taught by college faculty – and to recruiting its first class.

Chemistry Professor Patty Dooley, Ph.D., Colonel of the Airborne, U.S. Army (Ret.), delivered the keynote address recently at the closing ceremony of the Joint Science and Technology Institute, a “smart camp” run by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency for high school-aged students interested in STEM.

Peter Laipson, Provost and Vice President of Bard College at Simon's Rock, shares a story from this year's Honors Convocation that demonstrates the true value of Rocker students, and what this means in the context of an American education system that emphasizes standardized test scores above all else.

Last week, scholar-activist William Robinson presented “Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity” at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, the latest in the 2014 Proseminar Lecture in the Social Scientific Inquiry series that has also featured Vijay Prashad and Wendy Cheg — and William issued a warning about our future, as well as a call to action to spark positive change.

Jacob Fossum, Fine Artist and Simon's Rock Visiting Professor in the Arts, is having his first solo painting exhibition at the school's Hillman-Jackson Gallery since joining the faculty in 2011. The exhibit runs daily from Tuesday, October 21, through Friday, November 21, and there is a Gallery Talk and Artist's Reception -- open to the public -- on Saturday, November 1, at 5:00 PM. We recently sat down with the artist to talk about his work, his teaching and his experience at Simon's Rock.